Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Yeah Narrow Gauge destroys anything out of Chicago from a NE IPA perspective tbh, phenom

 

Get Fresh Flow is my vote for the best beer Mike's ever made.

 

Narrow Gauge has been on my radar for awhile now. They actually just started doing crowlers. Looking forward to trying them

 

Anyone try the latest v2 batch from Hubbards Cave? v4 was amazing. Also, is the latest v2 available at Binnys?

 

Got v2 today at The Open Bottle. Saw a few cases at Standard Market Naperville too. Haven't opened it yet. Loved V4

 

Galaxy Bowl hit Maria's about an hour ago. Two 4-packs left so far as I can see. Above the cooler. No limit.

 

Thursty just wasn't very good. It just didn't showcase the hop flavor whatsoever. Honestly, there wasn't a whole lot of flavor at all. Disappointing. If anyone here loves it, I have two bottles left.

 

Lloyds Chicago in the Loop is tapping Galaxy Bowl tonight.

 

Three Lloyds? Lloyds doesn't exactly strike me as a bastion of craft beer. Perhaps they are one of the few loyal Hop Butcher accounts?

 

Haha well played...and I totally agree. Maybe a previous relationship or something? Odd to say the least.

 

Did anyone actually go to Lloyds? I'm wondering if there was even a crowd of any sorts and it lasts through the night.

 

While its not an NE IPA, the latest version of Lagunitas Born Yesterday IPA is unfiltered and has some really nice flavor. Its dryer and more bitter than an actual NE IPA, but if you see this around it might fill that hazy, delicious void!

 

My latest pour of Juicy....is that beer or OJ?!

It's incredible. I thought about trading off the last 2 cans I have, not a chance anymore!

 

I keep hearing that a lot of NE IPA's actually get better with about a month of them. I'm holding back one Galaxy Bowl to see if it works for that beer. Anyone else gonna hold back a Juicy? If so, I smell a (very juice-forward) blind tasting...

 

I'm sure one of my two cans of Juicy left will be held for close to a month. My hops fridge is full of PsuedoSue, Todd the Axe Man, Stratus, Pipeworks Fish and Unicorn releases, Zombie Dust, and Navaja so it's hard to finish everything as fresh as possible. I tried a few times to swap a Juicy 1:1 with a Galaxy Bowl, but everybody wants at least 2:2, and understandably so.

I'll definitely post after comparing the taste of a 2 day old Juicy vs. a month old Juicy.

 

I plan on tasting them side by side a week from this Saturday (along with Mikerphone SS#8 and something else, perhaps Fresh), which will put Juicy at the 4 week mark and Galaxy bowl around 3 weeks (I think). I'll have more Galaxy Bowl after that still, though, to keep checking it out along the way.

 

Galaxy Bowl was canned 10/5. Just so you know how old they are moving forward!!

 

Thanks - I thought that's about when it was. At one point I knew the exact date, but other things have pushed it away. I'm really intrigued to follow these over the next couple weeks to see if they are best at 4-6 weeks, similar to what Treehouse says about theirs.

 

A guy I know in PA claims that Tired Hands Milkshake series beers are at their best at 4-6 weeks too.

I tried to save a few Galaxy Bowls to test but I'm down to just 1. I loved this one too much to save any more!!